10 Interesting Facts About Marie Curie. For what discoveries did Marie Skłodowska-Curie win the Nobel Prize? Shame on the French Academy

Marie Curie, a French physicist of Polish origin, coined the term "radioactivity" and discovered two elements: radium and polonium. She was not only the first woman to receive Nobel Prize in physics, but after being awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, she became the first double winner of this prestigious award and the only one in two disciplines.

Marie Curie: a biography of the early years

Born in Warsaw on 11/07/1867, she was the youngest of five children of Władysław and Bronisława Skłodowski. After her father lost his job, the family suffered hardship and was forced to rent out rooms in their small apartment to guests. Religious as a child, Maria became disillusioned with her faith after her sister died of typhus in 1876. Two years later, Skłodowska-Curie's mother died of tuberculosis, a terrible disease that affects the bones and lungs.

Maria was a brilliant student and in 1883 she graduated high school with a gold medal. In Russia, which then included part of Poland, where the Sklodovsky family lived, girls were forbidden to study in higher educational institutions. Maria, at the suggestion of her father, spent a year at the dacha with friends. Returning to Warsaw the following summer, she began to earn a living as a tutor, and also began attending classes at the Flying University, an underground group of young men and women who tried to quench their thirst for knowledge at secret meetings.

In early 1886, Maria was hired as a governess by a family in Shchuky, but the intellectual loneliness she experienced there strengthened her determination to fulfill her dream of becoming a university student. One of her sisters, Bronya, was already in Paris by that time, where she successfully passed her exams in medicine. In September 1891, Maria moved in with her.

Study and research in Paris

When classes began at the Sorbonne in early November 1891, Maria entered the Faculty of Physics. By 1894, she was desperately looking for a laboratory where she could investigate the magnetic properties of steel alloys. She was advised to visit Pierre Curie at the School of Physics and Chemistry at the University of Paris. In 1895, Pierre and Marie were married, and thus began the most extraordinary partnership in scientific work.

By the middle of 1897, Curie had received two higher educations, completed her postgraduate studies, and also published a monograph on the magnetization of hardened steel. When her first daughter, Irene, was born, she and her husband turned their attention to the mysterious uranium radiation discovered by Antoine Henri Becquerel (1852-1908). Maria intuitively felt that radiation was a property of the atom and therefore must be present in some of the other elements. She soon discovered a similar emission from thorium and coined the historical term "radioactivity".

Outstanding discoveries

Looking for other sources of radioactivity, Pierre and Marie Curie turned their attention to uraninite, a mineral known for its uranium content. Much to their surprise, the radioactivity of the uranium ore far exceeded the combined radiation of the uranium and thorium it contained. For six months, two papers were sent to the Academy of Sciences. The first, read at a meeting on July 18, 1898, dealt with the discovery of the element polonium, named after Marie Curie's home country, Poland. The second was read on December 26 and reported on a new chemical element, radium.

From 1898 to 1902, after processing several tons of uranium ore, the couple obtained extremely precious hundredths of a gram of radium. But they were not the only reward for Curie's superhuman efforts. Marie and Pierre over the years have published, jointly or separately, in total 32 scientific work. One of them said that under the influence of radium, diseased tumor cells are destroyed faster than healthy ones.

Confession

In November 1903, the Royal Society of London awarded the outstanding scientist one of their highest awards, the Davy Medal. A month later, the Nobel Foundation announced in Stockholm that three French scientists, A. Becquerel, Pierre and Marie Curie, had been awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics. university.

In December 1904, the second daughter, Eva, was born to the couple of scientists. The following year, Pierre was elected to the Academy of Sciences, and the couple made a trip to Stockholm, where on June 6 he gave the Nobel lecture, which was their joint address. Pierre ended his speech by saying that every major scientific progress has a twofold effect. He expressed the hope that "humanity will derive more benefit from new discoveries than harm."

Depression

The joyful period of the life of the married scientific team did not last long. On a rainy afternoon on 04/19/06, Pierre was shot down heavy crew and died instantly. Two weeks later, the widow was invited to take over as her late husband. The awards of scientific societies around the world began to pour in on a woman who was left alone with two small children, and who had an enormous burden of leading radioactivity research. In 1908 she edited the collected works of her late husband and in 1910 published her great work Traité de radioactivité. After some time, Marie Curie received the Nobel Prize for the second time, already in chemistry. However, she could not defeat the Academy of Sciences, which in Once again denied her membership.

Einstein support

After the public found out about her romantic relationship with a married colleague Paul Langevin, who was then living apart from his wife, Marie Curie was branded as a homemaker and accused of using the works of her late husband and lacking her own achievements. Although she was awarded a second Nobel Prize, the nominating committee did not recommend that she travel to Stockholm to accept the award. Albert Einstein sent a letter to the depressed Curie, in which he admired her and advised her not to read the newspaper articles against her, but to "leave them to the reptiles for whom they were fabricated." She soon recovered, went to Sweden and won her second Nobel Prize.

Radiology and war

During World War I, Maria devoted much of her time to equipping field hospitals and vehicles with primitive X-ray equipment to treat the wounded. These vehicles were dubbed "little Curies" in the war zone. Maria, who was 50 years old by the end of the war, spent most of her physical strength and savings patriotically invested in war bonds. But her devotion to science was inexhaustible. In 1919, she was reinstated at the Radium Institute, and two years later her book Radiology and War was published. In it, she informatively described the scientific and human experience obtained by this branch of science during the war. At the end of World War I, her daughter Irene, a physicist, was appointed as an assistant in her mother's laboratory.

Gift of the American People

Soon a landmark visit took place at the Radium Institute. The visitor was William Brown Meloni, editor of a leading magazine in New York and representative of the many women for whom the learned Marie Curie served as an ideal and inspiration for many years. A year later, Meloni returned to tell how a nationwide subscription had raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in the United States to purchase 1 gram of radium for her institute. She was also invited to visit the United States with her daughters and personally collect the valuable gift. Her trip was an absolute triumph. At the White House, President Warren Harding gave her a golden key to a small metal box that contained a valuable chemical element.

The beauty of science

On topics not related to scientific issues, the physicist Marie Curie rarely spoke publicly. One exception was her speech in 1933 at a conference on the future of culture. There she spoke out in defense of science, which some participants accused of dehumanizing modern life. “I am one of those,” she said, “who thinks that science has great beauty. The scientist in his laboratory is not only a technician; he and the child, placed before the phenomena of nature, which amaze him like a fairy tale. We must not allow all scientific progress to be reduced to mechanisms, machines and gears, although such machines are beautiful in their own way.

last years of life

The most touching moment that adorned the life of Marie Curie was probably the marriage of her daughter Irene to the most gifted member of the Radium Institute, Frédéric Joliot, which took place in 1926. She soon saw clearly that their union would be reminiscent of her own marvelously creative collaboration with Pierre Curie.

Maria worked almost to the very end and successfully completed the manuscript of her last book"Radioactivity". IN last years youngest daughter Eva gave her great support. She was also the faithful companion of her mother when Marie Curie died on 07/04/34. The biography of the outstanding physicist was interrupted in Sansellemose, France. Albert Einstein once said that she is the only celebrity who has not been corrupted by fame.

Marie Curie: interesting facts

• The ingenious woman physicist personally provided medical care French soldiers during World War I. She helped equip 20 ambulances and hundreds of field hospitals with primitive X-ray machines to make it easier for surgeons to find and extract bullets and shrapnel from wounded soldiers. This and the sterilization of wounds with radon saved the lives of a million people.
• Curie was the first recipient of two Nobel Prizes and remains the only one to receive them in different disciplines.

• Initially, her name was not mentioned in the nomination for the Nobel Foundation Prize in Physics. However, thanks to the efforts of committee member Magnus Gustav Mittag-Leffler, Professor of Mathematics at Stockholm University College, and her husband, the official nomination was supplemented.
• In Poland, the Marie Curie University, founded in 1944, is one of the largest state universities countries.
• The physicist was unaware of the dangers of radioactivity. She spent every day in a laboratory full of hazardous materials. At home, Curie used a sample of the radioactive substance as a night light by her bed. Until the very end, Maria did not know that her discovery was the cause of her pain and illness. Her personal belongings and lab records are still so contaminated that they cannot be safely examined or studied.
• Her daughter Irene Joliot-Curie also won the prestigious award. She and her husband were honored for their achievements in the synthesis of new radioactive elements.
• The word "radioactivity" was coined by Pierre and Marie Curie.
• The 1943 film Madame Curie by American director Mervyn Leroy was nominated for an Oscar.

Vasilisa Ivanova

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Almost everyone heard the name of Maria Sklodowska-Curie. Some may still remember that she was studying radiation. But due to the fact that science is not as popular as art or history, not many are familiar with the life and fate of Marie Curie. Discovering her life path and achievements in science, it is hard to believe that this woman lived at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

At that time, women were just beginning to fight for their rights - and for the opportunity to study and work on an equal basis with men. Without noticing the stereotypes and condemnation of society, Maria did what she loved - and achieved success in science, along with the greatest geniuses of those times.

Childhood and family of Marie Curie

Maria was born in Warsaw in 1867 in the family of two teachers - Vladislav Sklodovsky and Bronislava Bohunska. She was the youngest of five children. She had three sisters and one brother.

At that time, Poland was under the control of Russian Empire. Relatives on the maternal and paternal lines lost all property and fortune due to participation in patriotic movements. Therefore, the family was in poverty, and the children had to go through a difficult life path.

Video: Pierre and Marie Curie

Father, Vladislav Sklodovsky, taught mathematics and physics, was the director of a gymnasium for boys. When the school laboratory was ordered to close, he brought all the equipment home. It was he who introduced young Mary to science.

Mother, Bronislava Bohunska, ran the prestigious Warsaw School for Girls. After the birth of Mary, she left her post. During this period, her health deteriorated significantly, and in 1878 she died of tuberculosis. And shortly before that, the most elder sister Mary, Zofia. After a series of deaths, Mary becomes an agnostic - and forever renounces catholic faith professed by her mother.

At the age of 10, Maria enters school. Then she goes to study at the gymnasium for girls, which she graduated with a gold medal in 1883.

After graduation, she takes a break from her studies and leaves for her father's relatives in the village. After returning to Warsaw, she is engaged in tutoring.

Irresistible thirst for knowledge

At the end of the 19th century, women were not able to receive higher education and engage in science in Poland. And her family did not have the means to study abroad. Therefore, after graduating from high school, Maria began working as a governess.

In addition to work, she devoted considerable time to her studies. At the same time, she found time to help peasant children, because they did not have the opportunity to get an education. Maria gave reading and writing lessons to children of all ages. At that time, this initiative could be punished, violators were threatened with exile in Siberia. For about 4 years, she combined work as a governess, diligent study at night and "illegal" teaching to peasant children.

She later wrote:

"You can't build better world without trying to change fate specific person; therefore, each of us should strive to improve both his own life and the life of another.

Upon returning to Warsaw, she began to study at the so-called "Flying University" - an underground educational institution that existed due to the significant limitation of educational opportunities by the Russian Empire. In parallel, the girl continued to work as a tutor, trying to earn some money.

Maria and her sister Bronislava had an interesting arrangement. Both girls wanted to study at the Sorbonne, but could not afford it because of their poor financial situation. They agreed that first Bronya enters the university, and Maria earns money for her education so that she can successfully complete her studies and settle in Paris. Then Bronislava was supposed to contribute to Maria's studies.

In 1891, the future great female scientist was finally able to leave for Paris - and begin her studies at the Sorbonne. She devoted all her time to studying, while sleeping little and eating poorly.

Personal life

In 1894, Pierre Curie appeared in the life of Mary. He was the head of the laboratory at the School of Physics and Chemistry. They were introduced by a professor of Polish origin, who knew that Maria needed a laboratory for research, and Pierre just had access to those.

Pierre gave Maria a small corner in his laboratory. In the process of working together, they realized that both have a passion for the natural sciences.

Constant communication and the presence of common hobbies led to the emergence of feelings. Later, Pierre recalled that he understood about his feelings when he saw the hands of this fragile girl, eaten away by acid.

Maria rejected the first marriage proposal. She contemplated returning to her homeland. Pierre said that he was ready to move with her to Poland - even if he had to work until the end of his days only as a French teacher.

Soon Maria went home to visit her family. At the same time, she wanted to know about the possibility of finding a job in science - however, she was refused due to the fact that she is a woman.

The girl returned to Paris, and on July 26, 1895, the lovers got married. The young couple refused to hold the traditional ceremony in the church. Maria came to her own wedding in a dark blue dress - in which she later worked in the laboratory every day, for many years.

This marriage was as perfect as it could be, because Marie and Pierre had many common interests. They were united by an all-consuming love for science, to which they devoted most of their lives. In addition to work, the young spent everything free time together. Their common hobbies were cycling and traveling.

Mary wrote in her diary:

“My husband is the limit of my dreams. I never imagined that I would be next to him. He is a real heavenly gift, and the longer we live together, the more we love each other.

The first pregnancy was very difficult. But, nevertheless, Maria did not stop working on her research on the magnetic properties of hardened steels. In 1897, the first daughter of the Curie couple, Irene, was born. The girl in the future will devote herself to science, following the example of her parents - and being inspired by them. Almost immediately after giving birth, Maria began work on her doctoral dissertation.

The second daughter, Eva, was born in 1904. Her life was not connected with science. After Marie's death, she would write her biography, which would become so popular that it was even filmed in 1943 (Madame Curie).

Mary describes the life of that period in a letter to her parents:

“We are still living. We work hard, but we sleep soundly, and therefore work does not harm our health. I spend the evenings with my daughter. In the morning I dress her, feed her, and around nine o'clock I usually leave the house.

For the whole year we have never been to the theater, or at a concert, or at a party. Despite all that, we feel good. Only one thing is very difficult - the absence of a native family, especially you, my dears, and dad.

Often and with sadness I think about my alienation. I can’t complain about anything else, since our health is not bad, the child is growing well, and my husband is the best you can even imagine.”

Curie's marriage was happy, but short-lived. In 1906, Pierre was crossing the street in a downpour, and was hit by a horse-drawn carriage, his head fell under the wheels of the carriage. Maria was crushed, but she did not give up, and continued the work begun together.

The University of Paris offered her to take the place of her late husband in the department of physics. She became the first female professor at the University of Paris (Sorbonne).

She never remarried.

Advances in Science

• In 1896, Maria, together with her husband, discovered a new chemical element, which was named after her homeland - polonium.
• In 1903 she won the Nobel Prize for her services in the study of radiation (together with her husband and Henri Becquerel). The rationale for the award was: "In recognition of the exceptional services they have rendered to science through their joint research into the phenomena of radiation discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel."
• After the death of her husband, in 1906, she became acting professor at the Department of Physics.
• In 1910, together with Andre Debierne, he isolated pure radium, which is recognized as an independent chemical element. This achievement took 12 years of research.
• In 1909 she became director of the department fundamental research And medical use radioactivity at the Radium Institute. After the First World War, at the initiative of Curie, the activities of the institute focused on the study of cancer. In 1921, the institution was renamed the Curie Institute. Maria taught at the institute until the end of her life.
• In 1911, Maria received the Nobel Prize for the discovery of radium and polonium ("For outstanding services in the development of chemistry: the discovery of the elements radium and polonium, the isolation of radium and the study of the nature and compounds of this remarkable element").

Maria understood that such dedication and loyalty to science and career is not inherent in women.

She never encouraged others to lead the life she lived herself:

“There is no need to lead such an unnatural life as I led. I gave a lot of time to science because I had a passion for it, because I loved scientific research.

All I wish for women and young girls is a simple family life and work that interests them.

Maria devoted her whole life to the study of radiation, and this did not go unnoticed.

In those years, it was not yet known about the destructive effects of radiation on the human body. Maria worked with radium without using any means of protection. She also always had test tubes with a radioactive substance with her.

Her eyesight began to deteriorate rapidly, cataracts developed. Despite the catastrophic harmfulness of her work, Maria was able to live to 66 years.

She died on July 4, 1934 in a sanatorium in Sancellmoz in the French Alps. The cause of Marie Curie's death was aplastic anemia and its consequences.

persecution

Throughout her life in France, Mary was condemned on a variety of occasions. It seemed that the press and the people did not even need a valid reason for criticism. If there were no reasons to emphasize her alienation from French society, they simply composed. And the public happily picked up a new "hot fact".

But Maria did not seem to pay attention to idle conversations, and continued to do her favorite thing, not reacting in any way to the displeasure of others.

Often the French press stooped to direct insults to Marie Curie because of her religious views. She was a convinced atheist - and simply not interested in religious issues. At that time the church was playing one of critical roles in society. Her visit was one of the obligatory social rituals of "decent" people. Refusing to go to church was practically a challenge to society.

The hypocrisy of society manifested itself after Maria received the Nobel Prize. Immediately, the press began to write about her as a French heroine and the pride of France.

But, when in 1910 Maria put forward her candidacy for membership in French Academy found new reasons for condemnation. Someone presented evidence of her alleged Jewish origin. I must say that in those years anti-Semitic sentiments were strong in France. This rumor was widely discussed - and did influence the decision of the members of the Academy. In 1911, Mary was denied membership.

Even after Maria's death in 1934, discussion of her Jewish roots. The newspapers even wrote that she was a cleaner in the laboratory, and married Pierre Curie to herself by cunning.

In 1911, it became known about her affair with a former student of Pierre Curie, Paul Langevin, who was married. Maria was 5 years older than Paul. A scandal arose in the press and society, which was picked up by her opponents in the scientific community. She was called the "Jewish destroyer of families." When the scandal broke, she was at a conference in Belgium. When she returned home, she found an angry mob in front of her house. She and her daughters had to seek refuge in a friend's house.

Unappreciated altruism

Maria was interested not only in science. One of her actions speaks of her firm civic position and support for the country. During World War I, she wanted to give away all of her gold awards for scientific achievement in order to contribute financially to support the army. However, the National Bank of France refused her donation. However, she spent all the funds she received along with the Nobel Prize to help the army.

Her help during World War I was invaluable. Curie quickly realized that the sooner a wounded soldier was operated on, the better the prognosis for recovery would be. Surgeons needed mobile x-ray machines to help them. She purchased necessary equipment- and created X-ray machines "on wheels". These vans were later called "Little Curies".

She became the head of the radiology division at the Red Cross. More than a million soldiers have used mobile x-rays.

She also provided radioactive particles that were used to disinfect infected tissue.

The French government did not thank her for Active participation in helping the army.

• The term "radioactivity" was coined by the Curie couple.
• Marie Curie "raised" four future Nobel Prize winners, among whom were Irene Joliot-Curie and Frédéric Joliot-Curie (her daughter and son-in-law).
• Marie Curie was at 85 scientific communities Worldwide.
• All the records that Maria kept are still extremely dangerous due to high level radiation. Her papers are stored in libraries in special lead boxes. You can get acquainted with them only after putting on a protective suit.
• Maria was fond of long bike rides, which was very revolutionary for the ladies of that time.
• Maria always carried with her an ampoule of radium - her own kind of talisman. Therefore, all her personal belongings are contaminated with radiation to this day.
• Marie Curie is buried in a lead coffin in the French Pantheon, the place where the most prominent figures of France are buried. Only two women are buried there, and she is one of them. Her body was transferred there in 1995. At the same time, it became known about the radioactivity of the remains. It will take one and a half thousand years for the radiation to disappear.
• She discovered two radioactive elements - radium and polonium.
• Maria is the only woman in the world to have received two Nobel Prizes.

Maria Sklodowska-Curie

An outstanding physicist, chemist, experimental researcher, winner of two Nobel Prizes… It’s even hard to believe that we are talking about fragile attractive woman— Marie Skłodowska-Curie, who achieved a lot in her life: a great scientist, a loving and devoted wife, a caring mother of two daughters.

Childhood and youth: through thorns to knowledge

In the family of the Poles Bronislava and Vladislav Sklodovsky, on November 7, 1867, the fifth child was born - daughter Maria. Her parents were educated people - her father taught, and her mother was the director of a women's gymnasium. Maria grew up as a capable, inquisitive and responsible child, while studying at a boarding school and gymnasium she was one of the best pupils. The life of the Sklodowski family was not easy. My father had problems with work because of his relationship with Russian authorities, under the occupation of which Poland was, the mother was ill for a long time and died when Maria was still a teenager. The family experienced financial difficulties, and the children had to earn extra money. But the girl was drawn to knowledge, so her efforts were rewarded with a gold medal for excellent studies. Unfortunately, women in Poland were not allowed to study at universities, and the financial situation of the family made it impossible to study abroad.

The older sister Bronislava dreamed of medicine, and Mary was attracted to the natural sciences. Realizing that there was not enough money for joint education, the sisters decided to support each other. While in Paris the elder sister will receive medical education, Maria will help her by working in Poland as a governess. For a long and dreary 5 years, the girl had to work in other people's families, and only when Bronislava received a doctor's degree, Maria was able to study further. In 1891, 24-year-old Pole Maria Sklodowska became a student at the Sorbonne. She studied furiously: she disappeared all the time in the library and laboratories, lacked sleep, saved on food and transport. And already in 1893 she received a licentiate (master) diploma in physics, and the next year she became a licentiate in mathematics.

Pierre and Marie Curie - harmony not only in the family, but also in science

Many women studied at the French Sorbonne, but in the history of the university there were no women teachers before Maria Sklodowska - she became the first.
In her life at this time, everything was going well. Finishing her studies at the Sorbonne, she met a young, but already well-known French scientist Pierre Curie, who was simply fascinated by her and first thought about marriage. For almost 5 years, the Frenchman courted a young Polish woman, until she finally realized that with this person you can not only start a family, but also be comrades-in-arms in scientific activity. In 1895, Maria became Skłodowska-Curie, and in 1897 their first daughter, Irene, was born. Despite a difficult pregnancy, Maria continued to engage in physical research, and soon the world saw the first work of a young scientist on the magnetic properties of hardened steels.

When choosing a topic for her doctoral dissertation, Maria became interested in Henri Becquerel's research on the anomalous rays emitted by uranium salts. 4 years of continuous experiments gave an amazing result: chemical radioactive elements called polonium and radium were isolated from uranium ore. Also, Maria Sklodowska-Curie introduced a new concept - radioactivity. But discovering new elements was only half the battle, the scientific world needed to present their material evidence. Having processed tons of uranium ore in conditions absolutely unsuitable for scientific research, in 1902 Sklodovsky-Curie managed to extract 0.1 grams of radium. She described all her research in her doctoral dissertation, which she submitted for defense at the Sorbonne and successfully defended.
In 1903, the Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics to the Curies and Henri Becquerel for joint research on the phenomenon of radioactivity, and Marie became the first woman to receive such an award.

The Curies have huge scientific plans - Pierre heads the department of physics, and Maria is in charge of the laboratory. They continue their research. In 1904, an addition to the family - the youngest daughter Eva was born.

The scientific world applauds for the second time

But fully enjoy world fame and family well-being an absurd tragic accident prevented - Pierre Curie died under the wheels of a cart. Maria lost not only her husband, but also a like-minded person in joint work. She took this loss very hard, but their joint research needed to be continued. She was offered to head the department of physics instead of Pierre, and she became the first female professor to lecture at the Sorbonne. Sklodowska-Curie and André Debierne obtained pure radium in 1910 and thus confirmed that it is an independent element. This convincingly proved that 12 years of research were going in the right direction.

1911 was again a triumphant year for Marie Skłodowska-Curie. Her contribution to the development of chemistry was appreciated by the Nobel Prize, the second in her life. So far, no woman has received this award twice.

Radiation in medicine

To study radioactivity, the Radium Institute was created, to which Professor Sklodowska-Curie was invited as director of the department for the use of radioactivity for medical purposes. But I World War interfered with his work.
Maria, realizing that her knowledge and experience can be useful in war time, headed the radiology service in the Red Cross organization. At the fronts, there was a catastrophic lack of X-ray units, and she set about creating mobile laboratories. In this business, she invested her personal savings and attracted sponsors. These installations, affectionately referred to as "kiurichki", have saved many lives.
In recent years, Madame Curie's health began to deteriorate sharply. First, problems with the eyes began, then cholelithiasis worsened. In December 1933, the ailment intensified, but the doctors could not establish an accurate diagnosis, so the treatment did not give any results.
This outstanding woman died on July 4, 1934, and the cause of death was aplastic radiation anemia. Skłodowska-Curie was killed by her own great discoveries.

Name: Marie Curie-Sklodovskaya

Age: 66 years old

Place of Birth: Warsaw

A place of death: Sancellmosa, France

Activity: French physicist

Family status: was married

Maria Sklodowska-Curie - Biography

By becoming the world's first Nobel Prize winner (twice!), Marie Skłodowska-Curie broke the stereotype that only men can do science. She gave mankind new element radium, which eventually killed her.

Warsaw, late 19th century. IN poor family Sklodovsky's mother recently died of tuberculosis, and before her, one of her daughters. The father of the family barely managed to feed the remaining four children. And two teenage daughters, Maria Salomeya and Bronislava, so wanted to become doctors!.. It seemed that dreams would remain dreams, and not only because there was no money to study. In the Russian Empire, which included Poland, women in higher educational establishments did not accept. But the sisters had a plan: Maria would work as a governess for five years to enable her sister to graduate from medical school in Paris. And then Bronislava will pay for Maria's accommodation and education in the French capital.

Maria Skłodowska-Curie is the best student

Going to France in 1891, 23-year-old Maria Sklodowska had already changed her mind about becoming a doctor. She was interested in physics, mathematics and chemistry, and it was these that she began to study at the Sorbonne. Armor, as agreed, helped her with money, but almost everything was "eaten up" by the tuition fee. There was barely enough money to live on: Maria rented a tiny attic room in the Latin Quarter and could only eat a few radishes all day.

Maria Sklodowska-Curie - biography of personal life

After graduating, Skłodowska became the first female teacher at the Sorbonne. At the same time, she was also engaged in scientific research. In those years, Maria was interested in the magnetic properties of alloys. For example, why do magnetized substances behave differently with increasing temperature, and at a certain temperature they sharply lose their magnetic properties? ..

However, there were no suitable conditions in the Sorbonne laboratory to study magnetism, and one of Sklodowska's colleagues decided to introduce her to the young physicist Pierre Curie, who led the laboratory at the Municipal School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry. When she first saw Pierre, Maria felt that she wanted to be close to this calm, thoughtful man. At that moment, she was not a physicist, but a romantic woman who met her fate...

Pierre Curie felt the same way. “To love is not to look at each other. To love means to look together in the same direction, ”the French writer and pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupery would write many years later. The Curie spouses can be called an ideal example of just such love. After exchanging their first words, they realized that they were looking in the same direction - in the direction of the secrets that nature hides and which they want to unravel.

Marie Sklodowska-Curie - the highest award

The study of radioactivity without special protective equipment is extremely dangerous, but at that time it was not yet known. Maria, with her own hands, sorted out the uranium minerals ground into powder and cleaned them of impurities in a wooden shed. The consequences of this manifested themselves later in the form of ulcers and burns on her hands, due to which Maria did not take off her gloves in public until the end of her life.

But even in the midst of her research, Sklodowska-Curie did not forget to make time for her beloved. On weekends, they rode their bikes out of town and had a picnic. In her youth, Maria almost never cooked for herself, but now she has learned to cook Pierre's favorite dishes. At the same time, she tried to spend as little time as possible on household chores, devoting every free minute to work.

The efforts of the Curies were rewarded: in 1903, together with Henri Becquerel, who discovered radioactive radiation, they received an invitation to Stockholm to receive the highest award in the scientific world - the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery and study of this phenomenon.

Maria and Pierre could not come to the award ceremony: both were sick. However, the Nobel Committee repeated the ceremony for them six months later. For Maria, this was one of the rare "outings" when she could dress not in a lab coat, but in an evening dress and make beautiful hairstyle. Compared to other ladies who were present at the award ceremony, she looked very modest: from the jewelry she wore only a thin gold chain, almost invisible against the background of sparkling precious stones around ...

Maria Sklodowska-Curie - alone again

The happiness of the Curie spouses ended in 1906, when Pierre died an absurd death - he fell under the carriage. By that time, their second daughter Eva Denise, the future biographer of Mary, had already been born with Maria.

From the outside, it might seem that Maria was not so worried about the death of her husband: she did not become depressed, did not cry, did not refuse to communicate with people. She just continued to work and take care of children - the same way as before. But in fact, this is precisely what testifies to what she felt for Pierre true love, and not frivolous love and not selfish passion. After his death, Maria behaved as he probably would have liked: she continued their work and raised her daughters as worthy people.

Skłodowska-Curie received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911. Again, there were magnificent outfits and sparkling jewelry around, loud words were again heard that she "contributed to the birth of a new field of science - radiology." Only her beloved husband was no longer around. Curie received her second Nobel Prize for the discovery of radium and polonium. For the first time she isolated the salts of these chemical elements together with Pierre, and later calculated their atomic weight and described their properties, and also managed to obtain pure radium, which became the international standard for this substance. Maria and Pierre dreamed that they discovered new metal will be an unusual color, but radium turned out, like most metals, silvery. But it glowed in the dark, and the couple often admired its cold glow...

Before the First World War, Maria closely studied the possibilities of using radiology in medicine, and at the beginning of the war she proposed using x-rays in hospitals to determine exactly where bullets and shrapnel stuck in the bodies of the wounded. Remembering her youthful dream of becoming a doctor, she, along with her daughter Irene, began to travel to military hospitals with a mobile X-ray machine and show doctors how to use it. And later it turned out that radioactivity can help in the treatment of cancer.

Until the end of her life, Maria kept diaries in which she addressed her late husband as if she were alive, shared her thoughts, successes, and problems. She considered her main brainchild to be the Radium Institute established in 1914 in Paris, which later spawned similar institutions in other countries, including Russia. The scientist died in 1934 from aplastic anemia, becoming the first person on Earth to die from radiation exposure. She was buried next to her husband in the Paris Pantheon.

A small, windswept barn filled with ore, huge vats emitting a pungent smell of chemicals, and two people, a man and a woman, conjuring over them...

An outsider who found such a picture could suspect this couple of something illegal. At best - in the underground production of alcohol, at worst - in the creation of bombs for terrorists. And certainly it would not have occurred to an outside observer that in front of him are two great physicists standing at the forefront of science.

Today the words atomic Energy”, “radiation”, “radioactivity” are known even to schoolchildren. Both the military and the peaceful atom have firmly entered the life of mankind, even ordinary people have heard about the pros and cons of radioactive elements.

And for another 120 years, nothing was known about radioactivity. And those who expanded the field of human knowledge made discoveries at the cost of their own health.

Mother of Marie Skłodowska-Curie. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Treaty of Sisters

November 7, 1867 in Warsaw, in the family teacher Vladislav Sklodovsky, a daughter was born, who was named Mary.

The family lived in poverty, the mother suffered from tuberculosis, the father fought with all his might for her life, at the same time trying to raise the children.

Such a life did not promise great prospects, but Maria, the first student in the class, dreamed of becoming a woman scientist. And this was at a time when even girls from wealthy families were not allowed into science, believing that this was exclusively the business of men.

But before dreaming about science, it was necessary to get a higher education, and the family did not have money for this. And then the two Sklodowski sisters, Maria And Bronislava, conclude an agreement - while one is studying, the second is working to provide for two. Then it will be the turn of the second sister to provide for a relative.

Bronislava entered the medical school in Paris, and Maria worked as a governess. Wealthy gentlemen who hired her would laugh for a long time if they knew what dreams this poor girl had in her head.

In 1891, Bronislava became a certified doctor, and kept her promise - 24-year-old Maria went to Paris, to the Sorbonne.

Science and Pierre

There was only enough money for a small attic in the Latin Quarter, and for the most modest food. But Maria was happy, immersed herself in her studies. She received two diplomas at once - in physics and mathematics.

In 1894, while visiting friends, Maria met Pierre Curie, head of the laboratory at the Municipal School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry, who has a reputation as a promising scientist and ... misogynist. The second was not true: Pierre ignored women not because of hostility, but because they could not share his scientific aspirations.

Maria struck Pierre on the spot with her mind. She also appreciated Pierre, but when she received a marriage proposal from him, she answered with a categorical refusal.

Curie was dumbfounded, but it was not about him, but about the intentions of Mary herself. As a girl, she decided to devote her life to science, renouncing family ties, and after completing her higher education, continue working in Poland.

Pierre Curie. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

Friends and relatives urged Maria to change her mind - in Poland at that time there were no conditions for scientific activity, and Pierre was not just a man, but perfect couple for a female scientist.

Mysterious "rays"

Maria learned to cook for her husband, and in the fall of 1897 she gave birth to his daughter, who was named Irene. But she was not going to become a housewife, and Pierre supported his wife's desire for active scientific work.

Even before the birth of her daughter, Maria in 1896 chose the topic of her master's thesis. She was interested in the study of natural radioactivity, which was discovered by the French physicist Antoine Henri Becquerel.

Becquerel placed a salt of uranium (potassium uranyl sulfate) on a photographic plate wrapped in thick black paper and exposed it for several hours sunlight. He found that the radiation passed through the paper and affected the photographic plate. This seemed to indicate that the uranium salt emitted X-rays even after irradiation. sunlight. However, it turned out that the same phenomenon occurred without irradiation. becquerel, observed the new kind penetrating radiation emitted without external irradiation of the source. The mysterious radiation began to be called "Becquerel rays".

Taking "Becquerel rays" as a research topic, Maria wondered if other compounds emit rays?

She came to the conclusion that in addition to uranium, thorium and its compounds emit similar rays. Maria introduced the concept of "radioactivity" to refer to this phenomenon.

Marie Curie with her daughters Eva and Irene in 1908. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Parisian miners

After the birth of her daughter, Maria, returning to research, discovered that tar blende from a mine near Joachimstal in the Czech Republic, from which uranium was mined at that time, had a radioactivity four times higher than uranium itself. At the same time, the analyzes showed that there was no thorium in the resin blende.

Then Maria put forward a hypothesis - in the resin blende there is an unknown element in extremely small quantities, the radioactivity of which is thousands of times stronger than uranium.

In March 1898, Pierre Curie set aside his research and concentrated entirely on his wife's experiences, as he realized that Marie was on the verge of something revolutionary.

On December 26, 1898, Marie and Pierre Curie made a report to the French Academy of Sciences, in which they announced the discovery of two new radioactive elements - radium and polonium.

The discovery was theoretical, and in order to confirm it, it was necessary to obtain the elements empirically.

Calculations showed that in order to obtain elements, it would be necessary to process tons of ore. There was no money for a family or for research. Therefore, the old barn became the place of processing, and chemical reactions carried out in huge vats. Analyzes of substances had to be done in a tiny, poorly equipped public school laboratory.

Four years of hard work, during which the couple regularly received burns. For chemical scientists, this was a common thing. And only later it became clear that these burns have direct relation to the phenomenon of radioactivity.

Radium sounds trendy. And expensive

In September 1902, the Curies announced that they had succeeded in isolating one-tenth of a gram of radium chloride from several tons of uranium resin blende. They failed to isolate polonium, as it turned out to be a decay product of radium.

In 1903, Marie Skłodowska-Curie defended her thesis at the Sorbonne. At the award of the degree, it was noted that the work was the greatest contribution ever made to science by a doctoral dissertation.

In the same year, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Becquerel and the Curies "for their study of the phenomenon of radioactivity discovered by Henri Becquerel." Marie Curie became the first woman to receive a major science award.

True, neither Maria nor Pierre was at the ceremony - they were sick. They associated their increased ailments with a violation of the regimen of rest and nutrition.

The discovery of the Curie spouses turned physics upside down. Leading scientists took up the study of radioactive elements, which by the middle of the 20th century would lead to the creation of the first atomic bomb and then the first power plant.

And at the beginning of the 20th century, there was even a fashion for radiation. In radium baths and drinking radioactive water, they saw almost a panacea for all diseases.

Radium had an extremely high cost - for example, in 1910 it was estimated at 180 thousand dollars per gram, which was equivalent to 160 kilograms of gold. It was enough to get a patent to completely close all financial problems.

But Pierre and Marie Curie were idealists from science and refused the patent. True, with money they still became much better. Now they were willingly allocated funds for research, Pierre became a professor of physics at the Sorbonne, and Maria took over as head of the laboratory of the Municipal School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry.

Eva Curie. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

"This is the end of everything"

In 1904, Maria gave birth to a second daughter, who was named Eve. Seemed like years ahead happy life and scientific discoveries.

It all ended tragically and absurdly. On April 19, 1906, Pierre was crossing the street in Paris. It was rainy weather, the scientist slipped and fell under a cargo horse-drawn carriage. Curie's head fell under the wheel, and death was instantaneous.

It was a terrible blow for Mary. Pierre was everything to her - husband, father, children, like-minded person, assistant. In her diary, she writes: "Pierre sleeps his last sleep underground ... this is the end of everything ... everything ... everything."

In her diary, she would refer to Pierre for many years to come. The cause to which they devoted their lives became an incentive for Mary to move on.

She rejected the offered pension, saying that she was able to earn a living for herself and her daughters.

The faculty council of the Sorbonne appointed her to the chair of physics, which was previously headed by her husband. When Skłodowska-Curie gave her first lecture six months later, she became the first woman to teach at the Sorbonne.

Shame on the French Academy

In 1910, Marie Curie succeeded in collaboration with André Debierne isolate pure metallic radium, and not its compounds, as before. Thus, a 12-year cycle of research was completed, as a result of which it was undeniably proved that radium is an independent chemical element.

After this work, she was nominated for election to the French Academy of Sciences. But here there was a scandal - conservative academics were determined not to let a woman into their ranks. As a result, Marie Curie's candidacy was rejected by a margin of one vote.

This decision began to look especially shameful when, in 1911, Curie received her second Nobel Prize, this time in chemistry. She became the first scientist to win the Nobel Prize twice.

The price of scientific progress

Marie Curie headed the institute for the study of radioactivity, during the First World War she became the head of the Red Cross Radiology Service, dealing with the equipment and maintenance of portable X-ray machines for transilluminating the wounded.

In 1918, Maria became scientific director of the Radium Institute in Paris.

In the 1920s, Marie Skłodowska-Curie was an internationally recognized scientist who was considered an honor by the leaders of world powers. But her health continued to deteriorate rapidly.

Many years of work with radioactive elements led to the development of aplastic radiation anemia in Maria. The detrimental effects of radioactivity were first studied by scientists who began research on radioactive elements. Marie Curie died on July 4, 1934.

Maria and Pierre, Irene and Frederic

The daughter of Pierre and Maria Irene repeated the path of her mother. After graduating, she first worked as an assistant at the Radium Institute, and from 1921 began to engage in independent research. In 1926 she married a colleague, assistant of the Radium Institute Frederic Joliot.

Frederic Joliot. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Frederick was to Irene what Pierre was to Mary. The Joliot-Curies managed to discover a method that allows the synthesis of new radioactive elements.

Marie Curie just a year did not live to see the triumph of her daughter and son-in-law - in 1935, Irene Joliot-Curie and Frederic Joliot were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for the synthesis of new radioactive elements." In the opening speech on behalf of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences K. V. Palmeyer reminded Irene of how she attended a similar ceremony 24 years ago when her mother received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. “In cooperation with your husband, you continue this brilliant tradition with dignity,” he said.

Irene Curie and Albert Einstein. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Irene shared the last fate of her mother. From prolonged work with radioactive elements, she developed acute leukemia. Nobel Prize winner and Chevalier of the Legion of Honor Irene Joliot-Curie died in Paris on March 17, 1956.

Decades after Marie Skłodowska-Curie passed away, things related to her are kept in special conditions and inaccessible to ordinary visitors. Her scientific notes and diaries still contain levels of radioactivity dangerous to others.